Voluntary litter pickers putting lives in danger — Murray

BY COLM GANNON Mayo Advertiser, Fri, Apr 13, 2018

Sinn Féin Cllr Gerry Murray

Sinn Fein councillor Gerry Murray suggested at a recent Claremorris Municipal District meeting that people who were caught dumping rubbish from their cars be hit with penalty points on their driving licence along with fines for dumping.

The Charlestown based councillor also told the meeting that, following a clean up on Good Friday in his area, there was rubbish along the roadside again within a few days, he also said that people were risking their lives trying to be civic minded and taking part in clean ups like this.

"We undertook a clean up on Good Friday along a stretch of road from the old N5 to the new N5 in the Charlestown area," he said. "I wouldn't like to tell you what is being dumped along the roadside, it could only be described as hazardous waste. We had members of a local youth group and and others, and there is a big road safety issue there along with the hazardous waste they have to deal with."

He added: "If I had known beforehand the dangers of some of the waste we would be picking up, I would have had serious reservations about getting people together to go out at all."